April 2017

archive

Home April 2017

COVENANT KEEPERS (Part 2)

  • PST. ANDY MORGRIDGE
    Why Covenant Keepers?
    We showed in Part 1 how He made a covenant with Himself and traced how He kept it at the cross. A covenant is between two people who are expected to keep the covenant. Our part is the focus. In a Gentile (non-Jewish) society, Businessmen speak of contracts and agreements.
    However, the word covenant was used in ancient times and was more than just a binding agreement signed on a parchment or sealed with a wax impression from a signet ring. To the ancient cultures, a covenant was sealed in blood. To the Hebrews, the biblical covenants are also connected to blood covenants. Gen. 6:18; Gen. 17:1-2
    During Abram’s journey, God progressively appeared to Abram, revealing His divine purpose for Abram and his future children.
    (Gen. 12:2).
    (Gen. 17:4).
    (Gen. 17:6)
    (Gen. 18:18).
    (Gen. 22:18).
    The Hebrew word for covenant is birit, and it is used 280 times in the Old Testament. According to W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Dictionary of Old and New Testament words, the word b’rit is frequently the object of the verb karath, “ to divide or to cut in two.” (Gen. 15:9-10) Gen. 15:17-18.

    BLOOD STAINED TREES
    According to author H. Clay Trumbull in his book The Blood Covenant, in various parts of the East a tree was used in the rite of forging a blood covenant. Among some nations, planting a tree was a symbol of covenant.
    In ancient Timor, a young fig tree bore a portion of the blood of the covenant. In both instances, the tree was a visible and continually growing sign of the covenant. How visible is your covenant with Christ.

    ABRAHAM’S COVENANT SEALED BY BLOOD
    Abraham was eighty-six when Ishmael was born (Gen. 16:16). At age ninety-nine, God revealed that circumcision was the sign of the covenant (Gen. 17:10-12)
    Consider this. If at age seventy-five Abraham had known that circumcision was the sign of the covenant, then eleven years later the son of the bondwoman would have been “marked” for God’s covenant promise, thus disrupting God’s plan of a Hebrew nation through Abraham and Sarah.

    THE COVENANT – SEALED BY A MEAL
    (Exo. 24:6-8).
    (Gen. 14).
    (Gen. 27:6-41).
    (Gen. 31:49-54).
    Afterward, Moses, Aaron, his sons, and seventy chief elders were invited to the top of the mountain where the “…saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone… So they saw God, and they ate and drank” (Exod. 24:3-11).
    This meal sealed the deal between God and Israel. In Christian tradition, the Lord’s Supper, or Communion Meal, represents the blood and body of the Messiah and forms a spiritual bond between Christ and the believer, sealing our faith and confidence in the new covenant. Therefore Communion is the covenant meal.

    THE TERMS OF OUR COVENANT
    We showed last week that He is the King – a fact He didn’t hide to all He came in contact with. With Adam (Gen. 2:16-17) I demand obedience and I can determine the fate of your life! That’s a king (see 2Sam.12:1-5 Prov. With Israel He used the word serve Abad  (Ex. 4:3,7,16  And Deut. 8, 1, 20)
    The first thing in the terms of the covenant, He said, ‘I brought you to myself, you are the least of the people in terms of numbers’.
    (Exodus 24:3-8)
    We will obey ALL you say’ the people told God. That formed the basis for Theocracy: God is our Sovereign ruler. The sanctuary became God’s habitation amongst them; the priests were ordained to minister before them. The services within the habitation of God provided an object lesson of the plan of salvation and pre-figured the coming of the Messiah.
    They are representatives before God. The Lord gave the nation prophets, as you will find from Amos 3:7 Prophets were His spokespersons. Prophets were the ones that God gave to direct the affairs of the nation, as they heard from Him. (Amos 3:7). Matt. 27:24-25; John. 19:14-15;

    GOD’S PURPOSE FOR ISRAEL (US)
    Deut. 4:5-6
    2Sam. 7:22 (Living Bible)
    Deut. 17:14-20
    Deut. 28:1

    Certain blessings were going to come upon them but I want you to see the order God set them; the order that the Church has gotten it wrong. Spiritual prosperity is what makes way for material prosperity. It is not the other way round. Spiritual prosperity is what triggers material prosperity.

    And that’s why Jesus was speaking, hammering it unto us everywhere, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things will come. But people are looking at it the other way, seeking all other things – at the expense of seeking first the kingdom of God.
    Exodus 15:26 and Deut 7:13.

    HOLINESS OF CHARACTER –

    Gen. 17:1-2. (Lev. 19:2; Matt. 5:4; Hab. 1:13).

    1.Blessings of health.
    Exodus 15:26, Deut 7:13

    2.No sickness.

    3.Superior Intellect Deut. 4:5-6

    Nazi who has syphilis must not allow himself to be cured by Salvarsan, because it is the discovery of the Jew, Ehrlich. He must not even take steps to find out whether he has syphilis, because the Wasserman reaction used for the purpose is the discovery of a Jew—

    A Nazi who has heart disease must not use digitalis, which use in heart disease was developed by a Jew, Ludwig Trabo Typhus must not be treated, for he will have to benefit by discoveries of Jews, Widall and Weill.

    If he has diabetes, he must not use insulin, because of the research work of a Jew, Minkowsky. If he has a headache, he must shun ovarmidon and antipyrin, discovered by Spiro and Eiloge. Anti-Semites who have convulsions must put up with them for it was a Jew, Oscar Leibreach, who thought of using chloral hydrate…

    The Jews comprise less than 1 percent of the world’s population, yet 176 Nobel Prize winners have been Jews, Twenty-five percent of the orga­nizations receiving the Nobel Peace Prize were founded or cofounded by Jews. While 67 percent of American high school graduates attend college, 80 percent of Jewish high school graduates go to college, with 23 percent attending Ivy League schools.

    Studies have shown the Ashkenazi Jews (those from Northern Europe) are highly intelligent with a verbal IQ of 117-125 and score 12-15 points higher than Gentile groups, thought to be accredited to two thousand years of emphasizing verbal scholarship.

    The number-one-rated economically productive small group is Israeli-Americans, who are “seven times more likely to have the highest concentration of higher incomes and lowest rate of dependency upon public assistance.
    Some identify these phenomena as a genius factor, and others as some mysterious success factor deep in the Jewish culture that fosters such accomplishments.
    Mark Twain, in an 1899 quote from Harper’s Magazine,
    “ It is clear that God alone selected Abraham for a new nation and revealed the code of heaven to an earthly people, The covenants were sealed in blood, and out of the seed of Abraham came another nation of destiny, which the Jewish apostles iden­tify as the church, born out of a blood covenant ratified and sealed through Christ’s own sufferings. The church must understand the Jew, and the Jews must understand that true Christians love Israel and the Jewish people. We are from the same tree.”

  • 1.Blessings of health.
    Exodus 15:26, Deut 7:13

    2.No sickness.

    3.Superior Intellect Deut. 4:5-6

    4.The skills in Agriculture and animal husbandry.

    5.Superior Craftsmanship Ex. 31:1-

    6.Unparalleled prosperity Deut. 8:17-18

    7.National Greatness Malachi 3:12

    Isa. 43:10-12
    Dan. 3:28-29
    Dan. 6:23-27

    Closing: As you eat the bread, renew your covenant with Him. Ask Him to help you with grace to remove whatever hinders you from obeying Him. (Jn. 14:15,21).

Read More →

COVENANT KEEPER

PASTOR ANDREW MORGRIDGE

INTRODUCTION:
THE THRILLS ABOUT EASTER

  • (Col. 2: 11-15)
  • (Isa. 59:1-2)

THE TRUE STORY OF JESUS

A story is a narrative of an event, geared towards informing those who were not there what transpired, so that they also may know what you know. If it is not done well, two things can happen.

  First you go home with half truth which sadly is the same as now knowing at all.  Secondly, distorted information can kill: arouse wrong feelings and wrong responses.

  In the Bible, Joshua signed a pact with the Gibeonites that would trouble the Israelites in their latter years based on believing half truth… So also the story of Jesus has been perverted over the years. E.g. wise men coming to baby Jesus – the submission in Palm tree-palm Sunday.

  (Isa. 45:19)

The birth and death of Jesus Christ is just like a comma in a sentence. The Full sentence is stated in the Scriptures below:

  2 Timothy 1:9, 10; Isaiah 9:6; Gen. 24:60; Matt. 28:18

The concept God’s eternal purpose found in 1 Tim. 6:15-16   Gen. 3:14-15  Numbers 12:6-8 speaks of a God who decided to share His eternal glory with people and how the Devil through the fall of Adam thought he had thwarted it. Luke 4:5-6 (my emphasis – His boast)

PASSOVER:
CORONATION DAY OF KINGS

  Although the fall festival of Rosh Ha­Shanah marks the first day of the new Jewish calendar year, Nisan in the spring is actually considered the beginning of the annual festival cycle.

PASSOVER:
CORONATION DAY OF KINGS
CONTD.

The Jewish commentaries in the Mishnah tell us that the year of the reign of Jewish kings was counted from Nisan in biblical times.

Israel’s two diasporas – in 722 and 586 B.C. – and the collapse of the Jewish Monarchy led to the recognition of Tishri and Rosh HaShanah, rather than Nisan and Passover, as the head of the year. Put an­other way, Jews came to honor the Civil New Year in the fall, rather than the Spiri­tual New Year in the spring.

How do we know that the kings of Israel are crowned at Passover? In 1 Kings, it says this: “… in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the House of Adonai. ‘

  (I Kings 6:1) It is repeated in

  II Chronicles 3:2 as well.

In the ancient world, then, Israelites regarded the 1st of Nisan as the New Year for Kings, and the festival of Passover as the actual coronation day. 

  Little known to Gentiles, this amazing, truth throws new light on that most histor­ic of all Passovers. The day that Jesus was crucified was also the traditional Jewish day for the Coronation of Kings!

THE CORONATION

On the morning of that day – Passover, the 15th of Nisan – Jesus was given a public coronation, recognized by both Roman and Jewish leaders.

(John 19:1-8). Here, Jesus is crowned, clothed, in a royal garment and presented by the Gentile Pilate, as “the man. ” Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, “the one.”  

It is as though Pilate is saying to the Jews, “Here is the one you’ve been looking for, your King, the one you call Messiah.” No doubt, he knew about the Jewish national dream that a political and spiritual Savior would come to bring in their promised Kingdom.

(John 9:9-14).  (Jn. 19:19)

The wording makes it clear, not only that Pilate had personally written the sign, but that he recognized Jesus as King of the Jews. Through the hand of a pagan Roman Procurator, the Spirit of the Lord spoke with complete and final authority. Jesus was King!

THE CROWN OF FULFILLMENT
(GEN. 3:17-19)

Upon His head was a crown. Its thorns represent the result of Adam’s sin – the curse of the ground documented in Genesis 3:18.    

THE CROWN OF FULFILLMENT
(GEN. 3:17-19) CONTD

The thorns for the crown were gathered by Roman soldiers who wove it into a suitable shape, then forced it onto His head, doubtless producing a series of bleeding wounds.    

Thus, as His blood poured over the thorns, Jesus took upon Himself not only the sin of mankind, but the curse upon earth! In that historical moment, we were washed in the blood of the Lamb, and so was the earth.

In His coronation, and the events that followed on that Passover day, the curse of sin upon humanity was forever broken … and the curse upon the earth removed!

That’s why He insisted on the Passover (death and Resurrection – first fruits) being a yearly occasion – to point attention to His eternal work, which terminates in Rapture and Rev. 21:1-5.

That’s our only hope of defence, our only hope for sustenance and answers to prayers.

WHY DID JESUS FOLD THE NAPKIN?

  • Jn. 20:7
  • The folded napkin meant, “I’m coming back!“
  • He is Coming Back! 

WHY DID JESUS FOLD THE NAPKIN? CONTD.

It is the fulfillment of the covenant He made with mankind in the garden – bruising the head of the serpent. The subdue and the thresh hold covenant which Christians don’t keep. He didn’t save people for the fun of it – He saved them to rule them. That’s why He was crowned king in Easter.

Read More →

GET ADDICTED!!!

  • PASTOR DAVID NKENCHOR

When we say, “someone is addicted”, what readily comes to mind is something or action that is offensive, rebuffing, derogatory or immoral (e.g. hard drugs, sexual promiscuity,

Stealing, alcoholism, cigarette smoking, gossip, incessant partying, indecent/suggestive dressings, etc.), but that is not always the case with the term.

As a matter of definition, it connotes some virtuous attributes that as Saints of Christ, we must endeavor to possess, nurture and attain.

“ADDICTED” (as it relates to virtuous attributes):

  1. Devoted or given to a practice or habit or to something psychologically or physically habit forming.
  1. Physical or mental dependence on a particular “substance”

Drawing from the definition, it stands clear that being addicted has a positive aspect,

And is a function of the subject matter, (i.e. “what one is addicted to”).

Heb. 11:6; Rom. 5:1; Heb. 10:34; 11:1 – FAITH is ‘the substance” of our belief

THE PATTERN / SEQUENCE:

  • Thoughts — Inspired Voluntary Actions — Compelling Involuntary Behavior —  Compulsive Character – Addiction

POINTS OF NOTE ABOUT ADDICTION:

  • Addiction is ‘the substance’ dependent
  • Addiction is overwhelming, follows a build-up process and is progressiveEze. 47: 1-5

Addiction is a force / enabler / propeller – Mt. 3:16 (spirit of God descending upon Him to the wilderness sojourn). Lk.22:43

At certain levels of ‘the substance’ shortage, the body becomes restive and reactive (craves)

Even when diagnosed and being treated for medical illness, addicts continue with ‘the substance’ Phil. 3:13-14 – Forgetting those …I press

Addiction ensures intake of ‘the substance’ until relieved – 1 Pet. 1:9 (receiving the end …soul)

  • Social and recreational hobbies /activities are sacrificed if ‘the substance’ is unavailable – 2 Cor.6:14-15

Addicts seek for satisfaction beyond the ordinary / mundane Heb. 11:7-12; 13:14-16

Addicts, though realizes it, does not agree to quit. They operate under the influence of ‘the substance’

Under the influence of ‘the substance’, actions are unpredictable

Lk. 4:1-2; Rom. 8:14

Even if involving risks, addicts ensure maintenance of good and regular supply of ‘the substance’

Addicts submit that they need ‘the substance’ to deal with the addiction

  • Addicts spend more and more time and energy focusing on ways to getting hold of ‘the substance’ and improved ways of using / applying it.

  In many case, being alone and in secret (solitude and secrecy) is the right atmosphere for taking ‘the substance’. Ps. 91:1-2, Is. 40:30-31 (KJV; BBE)

Most addicts are not aware / refuse to acknowledge they have a problem

  • Addicts have stocks of ‘the substance’ hid in different parts of their points of regular interface –1 Cor 6. 18-19; 2 Cor. 6:16,

  Ps. 119:11.

Where choices become imperative, addicts choose ‘the substance’ over the good things of life

Phil 3:3-11, Heb. 11:24-26

  • X-raying some characters.
  • Phinehas: Num. 25:1-13 (GWT, BBE)
  • Stephen: Acts 7:57-60 (MSG).
  • Paul: Gal. 1:14 vs. 1 Cor 15:10
  • Rom 8:35-39, (NLT/MSG)

1Cor.15:31 (MSG); Phil 3:3-11 (MSG); Heb. 11:24-27, 34-38 (AMP)

Titus 2:14 (BBE), Rev. 3L19 (BBE)

 “If our faith in Christ is not worth being addicted to, where is the essence of our conviction?”, Selah.

Read More →

Get Addicted!!

When we say, “someone is addicted” what readily comes to mind is something or action that is offensive, derogatory or immoral (e.g. hard drugs, sexual promiscuity, stealing, alcoholism

Read More →